Village Update: Ba Mak June 2017

Ba Mak Village is located in the Kuri Buri National Park area of Prachuap Khiri Khan Province near the Myanmar border and is home to about 700 people including approximately 200 children. Sources of income include selling coffee, textile weaving, basket weaving and working in the local rice plantations. Jungle Aid has been actively supporting Ba Mak for over 5 years. We have held regular medical clinics, supported hospital visits, given oral and visual instruction on personal hygiene and contraception, supported village children to attend school and provided school supplies, and other personal items to the village residents.

Jungle Aid Trip to Ba Mak on 24 th June

We had a very large team of 15 volunteers, including a Course coordinator from Webster University with nine students. We met at 6:45 am at Market Village and introductions were made. The team members consisted of the following volunteers: Terry – Driver/Area Manager/Assessor, Anne –Nurse Medical, Georgina – Medical Asst., Ice Medical Translator, Kelly – Medical Asst./Medical Journal, Ni – Translator/Photographer. The Webster students rounded out the team with assessment and hygiene, health promotion on family planning and hand washing.

Upon our arrival, we were met by the village representatives and we then split into teams to work with the families and children waiting to see us.

River Water Supply and Distribution:

The Village is currently connected to the Government Border Police water supply.

Medical Treatment:

Anne and the medical team treated 18 patients for a variety of ailments and injuries. Several exercises and visual instructions were given to patients to be able to improve their health problems and preventative care.

Personal Hygiene:

Demonstrations on personal hygiene were shown to the children and adults who had gathered. Simply performing thorough and frequent hand washing can prevent many of the skin, intestinal and respiratory infections that we see in the clinics.

School:

We were informed that all children from 6 to 12 go to school; they go to the “police” school in the village. We were unable to learn anything about sponsorships for older students.

Mosquito Nets:

The Webster team dispensed 50 mosquito nets to the villagers and instructed them on their use to prevent malaria and dengue transmission.

Dog Assessment:

There were no new males since the last visit and no new litters of puppies or kittens. This was great news.

After Assessment and Medical:

Once the assessment team and medical team had completed their work, all volunteers were able to handout donations of clothing. The team organized and handed out many donated clothes which come from all over the country and from abroad. There were shoes, blankets, towels and the knitted hats by the wonderful ladies at “Stitch n Bitch” in Hua Hin.

An amazing day.

We will have one more final trip to this village in August before confirming our work is completed at Ba Mak.